78 Chapter 78

◎Sorry, I can't go◎

When he returned home, Shi Yuesheng wasn't there, but the house was bustling with activity. Zhu Qing was sitting in the living room, chatting animatedly with a group of women, like a tea party.

"What's wrong with this person now?" Shi Qiyue took off her school uniform and casually tossed it onto the sofa, asking Aunt Chen in front of everyone in a very nonchalant manner.

Aunt Chen looked embarrassed and didn't answer. Fortunately, Zhu Qing had a very strong mentality. As if she hadn't heard, she greeted Shi Qiyue and Shi Ziqian, who followed her in, "You're back! I'm interviewing childcare workers for Yaoyao and Qiaoqiao. Would you like to come and give me some advice?"

Shi Ziqian silently carried Panpan upstairs from the side. Aunt Chen suddenly saw him bring a dog back and quickly followed. Shi Qiyue chuckled twice, not only not avoiding them, but also sitting down directly, turning on the TV, and watching it next to them as if no one else was there.

Zhu Qing wasn't annoyed and continued, "These older sisters are amazing. One of them is a graduate of Oxford and speaks four or five foreign languages. Maybe in the future, besides taking care of those two little ones, they can also tutor you and Ziqian." As she spoke, she smiled at one of the women opposite her, seemingly quite pleased with her.

“No need.” Shi Qiyue slowly turned up the TV volume. “A childcare worker, how fancy! I’m not that precious.”

The living room was completely filled with the sound of the television. Zhu Qing finally frowned and stood up: "Why don't we talk in the study?"

Upstairs, Aunt Chen stared curiously at the dog Shi Ziqian had brought back for a while, asking it many questions. After Aunt Chen left, he heard noisy voices coming from the stairwell and reached out to close the door.

He was different from Shi Qiyue. While Shi Qiyue was quite willing to annoy Zhu Qing, he had no desire to even look at Zhu Qing properly and would avoid her most of the time.

Going home today was not unexpected. What he said at the school gate was true; Panpan's treatment has finally reached its final stage.

Just now, in front of Shi Qiyue, I couldn't find the opportunity to say what I wanted to say.

He went to the bedside to get his phone, and leaned against the balcony to slowly start typing.

"Do you want to come with me tomorrow?"

After Zhu Qing finished greeting the group of people she had invited, she invited everyone to stay for dinner. Shi Qiyue simply didn't go downstairs and ate at the small restaurant upstairs. She also called Shi Ziqian to join them.

The sounds from downstairs kept coming up intermittently. Shi Qiyue propped her chin up and absentmindedly ate with a spoon. She heard a childcare worker still trying to persuade her, rambling on about how her teaching plan could help children win at the starting line.

Then Zhu Qing's voice faintly sounded, her tone carrying an air of superior composure: "All of you teachers are excellent, but as you know, families like ours really don't need to put academic pressure on our children at such a young age, so that's not a factor for us. We are more focused on cultivating our children's personality and overall qualities..."

"So pretentious," Shi Qiyue commented.

She looked at Shi Ziqian, seemingly waiting for him to chime in with a few words.

"What?" Shi Ziqian didn't even look up. He was even more distracted than she was eating, his eyes glued to his phone screen, clearly not listening to what was being said downstairs.

"What are you doing?" Shi Qiyue glanced at his screen.

Shi Ziqian turned off the screen. "It's nothing."

Although he turned off the screen quickly, Shi Qiyue still saw it. He had opened the text message interface, which was displaying a message he had sent. Below it was empty, indicating that the other party had not replied.

Shi Qiyue smirked, as if she already knew what he was doing, but said nothing and continued to lazily poke at the rice grains in the dish with her spoon.

Shi Ziqian finally began to concentrate on eating. After finishing, he didn't rush to get up, but sat up straighter, unlocked his phone, and started typing.

Seeing that he was too busy to pay attention to her, Shi Qiyue threw down the spoon in her hand, got up, and walked past him towards her room. "I'm not eating anymore, I'm too tired."

Shi Ziqian hummed in agreement and continued typing intently on his phone. He typed slowly, pondering as he went, constantly deleting and revising.

When he finally finished typing, a nasty laugh suddenly came from behind him, "Why did you type such a long paragraph? It looks so pathetic."

It turned out that Shi Qiyue hadn't gone far; she had just feinted and circled behind him when he wasn't paying attention, and she had already seen the contents of his phone screen.

Shi Ziqian glanced back at her, but didn't react much or try to hide it. He then turned back to his phone. After carefully reading the text he had typed again, he finally pressed the send button.

Seeing that he didn't react much to her spying, Shi Qiyue felt a little bored, but then she had a new idea and suddenly stared at the text and read it aloud.

"The new moon tomorrow is a very important and joyful moment for Panpan. Although you may not want to go out with me, I think you might want to witness it from the sidelines..."

"That's enough." Shi Ziqian once again ruthlessly turned off the screen.

"So this dog is something you two raised together. No wonder you suddenly became obsessed with dogs." Shi Qiyue stared at him thoughtfully. "You really are... how should I put it? Suddenly, I feel like I've gained a new understanding of another side of you."

"Really?" Shi Ziqian stood up, ignoring her teasing. "I'm finished eating, I'm leaving."

No sooner had he finished speaking than his phone on the table lit up.

Shi Ziqian immediately picked up his phone, and this time, Shi Qiyue still peeked out without any restraint.

On the screen, the recipient of Shi Ziqian's text message finally replied. However, it was only a brief message: "Sorry, I have something to do tomorrow, I can't go."

"Tsk tsk tsk tsk, got rejected, huh?" Shi Qiyue said sympathetically. "Even though her tone was very humble, she still got rejected. She seems so pitiful."

However, judging from the curve of her lips, the genuineness of this sympathy was clearly quite limited.

Shi Ziqian stared at that sentence for a while, seemingly wanting to reply with something.

Shi Qiyue made a sarcastic remark from behind: "Looks like you haven't given up yet, are you planning to keep struggling?"

Shi Ziqian ignored her words and continued thinking. Shi Qiyue thought for a moment, then suddenly broke into a big smile: "As your good sister, I still can't bear to see you so pitiful. I have a great strategy I can offer you for free, do you want to hear it?"

Shi Ziqian looked up, gesturing for her to continue.

"This woman seems to have a very soft heart. You can easily win her over with a few tricks. Here's what you'll do: tomorrow, take your dog to her building and tell her you'll be waiting for her downstairs. If she doesn't come down, you won't leave. She'll definitely come down, you believe me?"

Shi Ziqian didn't hesitate: "I believe you."

Rarely receiving such complete approval from Shi Ziqian, Shi Qiyue was quite satisfied: "How about that, am I amazing? How about I try pursuing someone too? I should be able to make progress much faster than you."

Shi Ziqian then said, "But I don't want to put her in a difficult position."

He put his phone back in his pocket, picked up his plate, turned and left, saying, "We have plenty of time, let's take it slow."

"Tch, what a loser!" Shi Qiyue shouted from behind him.

Zhan Xinyue hesitated for a long time after receiving Shi Ziqian's text message. Although she actually wanted to go and see him, she ultimately made the difficult decision to refuse.

She kept telling herself that she couldn't be indecisive anymore, that she couldn't give others false hope, otherwise it would only hurt herself and others more, but she was still very sad inside.

Panpan was found by her and Shi Ziqian, but Shi Ziqian was the only one who personally took care of its treatment. She felt very sorry for him.

After that, Shi Ziqian did not send any more messages.

She didn't know what happened to Panpan in the end, and she refrained from asking, only silently praying that everything would go well.

It wasn't until Sunday when she was taking extra classes that she walked to the cafeteria alone before dinner, but unexpectedly saw Shi Ziqian with Panpan in the distance downstairs.

He was walking his dog on a leash on campus, and Panpan was walking slowly in front of him.

It was lunchtime, and this area was a common route to the cafeteria. The sight of a person and their dog openly keeping a pet on campus was quite unusual, so the couple attracted a lot of attention. However, everyone just watched from a distance, and no one dared to approach.

Panpan always needed to be taken out for a walk, but Zhan Xinyue had never encountered her on campus before; this was the first time.

Zhan Xinyue looked at Panpan from afar; the iconic little wheelchair behind her was gone. Although her hind legs kept wobbling as she walked, and seemed about to give way from time to time, she persevered each time. Despite not being very skilled at controlling her hind legs, she was as energetic as ever, sniffing at the roadside grass as she walked.

Although there were quite a few people looking over there, most of their curiosity was focused on the fact that dogs could be brought on campus, or on its owner, Shi Ziqian. But Zhan Xinyue's feelings at that moment were completely different from everyone else's.

I first saw Panpan during an autumn outing. It was lying dirty in the green belt, covered in flies, and on the verge of death. Now, not only has it survived, but its wounds have healed, its fur has grown back, and it has stood up again. The marks left by all the misfortunes of the past have faded away without us even noticing, becoming almost invisible.

It has transformed back into a healthy, majestic little dog.

That's really great.

Zhan Xinyue's gaze lingered on it for a long time before slowly shifting to Shi Ziqian's face. Then, unexpectedly, their eyes met.

Through the crowd, Shi Ziqian was also looking this way. After a brief exchange of glances, Zhan Xinyue turned her gaze away first and continued walking towards the cafeteria. Shi Ziqian didn't stop either, still holding Panpan's hand, and slowly walked forward.

Although she didn't participate in the important moment when Panpan left the wheelchair, she seemed to have witnessed some of it.